Visit the Little House in the Big Woods during Laura Ingalls Wilder Days! This reconstructed cabin is located on the property where Laura Ingalls was born on February 7, 1867.
During the festival, the cabin is decorated with quilts and period items. Please be aware that there is no running water or electricity on the site, however, there are restroom facilities on the property. On Saturday only during Laura Days, a shuttle bus runs between the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park in the village of Pepin and the Wayside Cabin. Cabin activities are run by volunteers and coordinated by Julie Francis Miller.
Cabin activities are free of charge, and donations are welcome.
Julie Frances Miller is the coordinator for the annual Wayside Cabin Activities. The activities are held at the Little House Wayside, otherwise known as the “Little House in the Big Woods” and is the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder (7 miles north of Pepin on County CC). She has been a volunteer at the cabin for Laura Days since 2012 and the coordinator since 2015.
Julie’s love of all things Laura Ingalls Wilder started when she began reading the Little House books in the third grade. There are many similarities to the books and her life, as she grew up on a Century Farm near Gowrie, Iowa (in northwest Iowa). Her farm included 2 ½ acres of real prairie as well as the words “The Homestead” prominently displayed on the brick barn.
As a former first and second grade teacher, Julie has always had a love of working with children. She takes great pleasure in sparking people’s interest in Laura Ingalls Wilder and pioneer life. Julie has been a presenter at six of the Laura Ingalls Wilder homesites. Since 2013, she has facilitated activities for children at the Laura Days festival in Burr Oak, Iowa. In June of 2016, she was honored to give a presentation at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum about growing up on a Century Farm and the similarities to Laura Ingalls Wilder (the presentation can be viewed at the “HooverPresLib” channel on YouTube under “As an Iowa Farm Girl Thinks”/Julie Miller). A shorter version of this same presentation was given by her in July 2015 at “LauraPalooza,” a research and fan-based conference for adults about Laura Ingalls Wilder. She has been one of the main contributing authors of the “Laura’s Corner” column for the Kingsbury Journal, which is the newspaper for De Smet, South Dakota. Julie is also known for playing the late 1800’s pump organs at all of the L.I.W. homesites. This includes performances and/or sing-alongs on them with Laura fans, including on Laura’s own pump organ at her final home, “Rocky Ridge”, for the 2019 Wilder Days festival in Mansfield, Missouri.
Currently, Julie is a private piano teacher at her home in Polk City, Iowa (just north of Des Moines) and lives with her husband, Mike, and their son, Luke. Her hobbies include playing the piano, making miniature quilts, making and collecting L.I.W.-related miniature items, and reading about the Ingalls and Wilder families.
Visitors to the “Little House in the Big Woods” during Laura Days can see the cabin decorated with quilts and period items, hear a story and play a game while learning the names of quilt blocks, make their own 9 Patch quilt design, play with pioneer toys, and listen to music from the late 1800s. Hours for the cabin activities in 2025 will be Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 11-4.
Activities
Visitors of All Ages are Welcome to Participate in All Activities (Activities subject to change)
Read the historical marker located by the parking area and have your photo taken by it.
Hear a story about the Ingalls’ wagon trip from their log cabin to Pepin, told through quilt blocks.
Learn the names of quilt blocks and play the guessing game at the end to win a prize.
Design your own 9-patch quilt block to take home, made of fabric, paper, and glue.
Make a quilt pattern using tiny colored triangular magnets.
Look at and read through the materials inside the display board in the cabin. Enjoy exploring the cabin.
Meet “Jack” and “Black Susan,” the Ingalls’ pets (stuffed animals children may pet)
Weave a string around the holes to complete wooden sewing cards
Do pioneer chores just as Mary & Laura would have done. At the Pioneer Chore station, visitors can pretend to carry water in a well bucket, sweep the floor, wipe dishes, iron clothes, and sign their name on a slate to signify that their chores are completed.
Learn to play Hoop-and-Stick (all three ways!)
Learn to play “Little Grace.”
Try out small pioneer toys, including Cup-and-Ball, Jacob’s Ladder, Spinning tops, and more.
Listen to pioneer music (CDs inside the cabin). Musicians are welcome to come to the grounds to play their instrument (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, harmonica, etc.). Any songs you can play from the books are a plus!
Take a family photo in front of the cabin or inside the cabin.
Wear pioneer clothes! We have many visitors of all ages wear parts of or whole costumes (bonnets, straw hats, pioneer dresses, aprons, suspenders, Civil War attire, etc.)
